Carlos R. Romo - Counsel

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Carlos Romo practices at the intersection of energy and environmental law. He has helped clients in a variety of industries navigate complex regulatory requirements and has particular expertise in Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, and National Environmental Policy Act permitting and litigation matters. Building on his experience as a former briefing attorney to the Honorable Wallace B. Jefferson, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas, Carlos blends substantive knowledge of natural resources issues with expertise in administrative law, litigation, and appeals. His clients include oil and gas companies, utilities, energy producers, trade associations, refineries, developers, land owners, and resort operators.

Before law school, Carlos was a project director at a policy think tank and worked in New York and Latin America on finance issues.

Oil and Gas Disputes. Carlos has substantial experience resolving oil and gas disputes, including disagreements over siting, surface use, water use and disposal, nuisance and trespass litigation, and lease and royalty disputes. He has represented both landowners and operators and has litigated oil and gas issues in state and federal trial and appellate courts. Carlos is a frequent speaker and author on the topic of hydraulic fracturing and is intimately familiar with issues related to local, state, and federal regulation of oil and gas operations.

Clean Air Act. Carlos has nearly a decade of experience working on a variety of Clean Air Act matters. He is particularly knowledgeable about regulations targeting emissions from coal-fired power plants, and also has extensive experience assisting oil and gas developers and refineries with compliance with New Source Performance Standards, CAA Section 114 information requests, and air enforcement matters. Most recently, he assisted utility companies in comments on a proposed rulemaking and a successful challenge to regional haze requirements in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Carlos’ CAA experience includes citizen suit litigation and nuisance and toxic tort suits arising from authorized and unauthorized emission events.

Endangered Species Act. Several of Carlos’ most signature environmental permitting and litigation matters involve endangered species. He was instrumental in drafting innovative “hybrid” conservation agreements for the oil and gas industry to address impacts from oil and gas development on the dunes sagebrush lizard and lesser prairie chicken. His clients often ask him to evaluate proposed ESA listings, regulations, and policies. One of his major successes was the appeal of an adverse order involving water rights and alleged impacts on endangered whooping cranes. His client played a key role in overturning the order in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Carlos helped defend the judgment in the U.S. Supreme Court. Carlos also frequently assists clients obtain ESA Section 7 and Section 10 incidental take permits for infrastructure projects.

Water. Carlos’ water practice focuses on recycling and reuse of industrial water under Clean Water Act and state water rights frameworks. Carlos has assisted oil and gas companies permit water recycling operations for reuse with hydraulic fracturing operations in a variety of states and can help companies evaluate benefits of mobile recycling units versus centralized water treatment facilities. He has extensive experience in obtaining water rights with impacts on endangered species and in drafting and negotiating water rights leases and purchases.

Oil Spill Response. Carlos has unique knowledge of how to report and respond to oil spills. In response to a large oil spill that occurred near a National Wildlife Refuge, Carlos served as the sole on-scene lawyer for the client in the earliest days of the spill. Carlos has assisted clients respond to National Transportation Safety Board and Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration investigations. Oil spill response requires a calm ability to triage tasks and meet competing demands from the client, state and federal agencies, and the general population. Carlos adeptly manages these requirements while looking to the future litigation risks associated with civil penalties, Natural Resource Damages Assessments, and private citizen suits.

Representative ExperienceClean Air Act

Represented clients in responding to EPA regional haze proposals and in petition to stay rule in U.S. Court of Appeals

Developed strategy for oil and gas industry response to methane rulemakings

Evaluated impact of new climate rules on power industry

Drafted briefs in Texas appeals courts and the U.S. Supreme Court on nuisance and preemption under the federal CAA

Drafted briefs related to trespass from “migratory air particles” from oil and gas operations

Law360 Analysis: Debunking The Myth Of Hydraulic Fracturing, August 2013

Regulation of Hydraulic Fracturin Texas, August 2013

Toxic Release Inventory Sector Expansion, July 2013

Regulatory Regimes for Recycling Produced and Frac Flowback Water, June 2012

Regulatory Regimes for Recycling Produced and Frac Flowback Water, June 2012

Shale Fracturing - Policy & Legal Implications, June 2012

Integrating Water Quality Standards into Water Management Programs, January 2012

Rulemaking Update, June 2011

Clean Water Initiatives, February 2011

Playing To Win and Planning the End Game: The Critical Role of Process, Procedural Options, Forum Selection and Appeals to State and Federal Levels, November 2010

Bar and Court Admissions State Bar of ColoradoState Bar of Texas - Environmental and Natural Resources Law, Administrative Law and Appellate Law SectionsUnited States District Court for the District of ColoradoUnited States District Court for the District of ColumbiaUnited States District Courts for the Southern and Western Districts of Texas United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit